Not Again! NT2
by Idontknowwhatthatmeans32
Summary: Kara and the gang are back for NT2 with a twist. Ian's back too! Aren't you curious now?
1. Fast Cars and FreedomKillers

A/N: So not much changes in the first chapter here, but Ian will be back. I usually have these mostly finished when I start posting, but I decided to go ahead with this one even though I haven't got it all written (plotted forever, but not written). Reviews are great. That's the last I'll say on the topic. Enjoy!

Kara browsed in the rows of books, keeping a closer eye on Riley's empty table than on the books. Finally a woman approached him.

"Oh wow," she heard the blonde say "Is this a book about the Templar Treasure?" No, thought Kara, that's just written in big bold letters to screw with you.

"Yes," Riley said in his best author voice. "It is about the Templar Treasure. But it's also about other things, uh, conspiracy theories, urban legends, and other myths that are true."

"So, the author's here signing copies?" Kara turned away after that and drifted deeper into the bookstore. She next heard him screaming "Wait! Wait, that's my car!"

"Where's the Ferrari?"

"Hello to you too." Kara waved at Ben, who ignored her.

"The IRS impounded it."

"The IRS?"

"Funny story. My accountant set up a 'corporation' on an island that didn't exist and assured me that that's how 'rich people' do it. Then I got audited, and slapped with a huge fine, plus interest!"

"I told you that guy reminded me of a used car salesman." Kara said, studying her nails. Riley ignored her 'I told you so' and continued talking to Ben.

"Do you know what the taxes are on five million dollars? Six million dollars" Riley sat down next to Ben. Kara remained standing. "But enough about me. What's new with you?"

"Well, my girlfriend kicked me out, I'm living with my dad, and my family killed President Lincoln."

"All right."

"I need your help."

"Okay." Ben looked at Kara evenly. Riley turned with a more plaintive expression.

"Fine. I'm leaving. But for the record, this isn't a good idea."

"How do you know?" Riley asked.

"Let's think. How could I possibly guess? The last time Ben wanted to defend his family's reputation, you got blown up, stole the Declaration of Independence, shot at, and chased all over New England by both the FBI and a murderous gang of thieves. And back then, he was just descended from kooks, not murderers."

"One _alleged_ murderer, thank you." Ben said testily.

"Right. You're not going to get into trouble at all. Have fun."

"We will."

"Take cash." Kara started to walk away.

"What?"

"If they grant you bail, I'd rather not have to call a cab in the middle of the night to come get you. And Abby's likely to leave you in there at least twenty-four hours. Then again, you'd probably be flight risks, given Ben's history. I'll try and visit."

"Ben, we're not … going to go to jail, are we?"

"No! I mean, probably not."

"I can't believe you have to break into your own house."

"I need to get Abigail's ID badge. She has access to the Booth diary page. Why don't you just ask Abigail for her help?"

"She changed the alarm code, Riley. She's not going to talk to me."

"All right. We have 30 seconds after the alert starts to disable the alarm. Go." They opened the door and ignored the beeping that started. Now I know I'll probably regret asking this, but what happened with you and Abigail?"

"I don't know, you know. I don't know. She started using the word 'so' a lot."

"So?"

"Yeah, like 'So, I guess my opinion doesn't matter.' 'So, you seem to always know what's best.' 'So, I guess I'm invisible.' And now I've moved out, and we're dividing the furniture" Riley got the alarm.

"You did that in twenty-five seconds."

"That's why I tell people to get a dog."

"Got it, let's go."

"You know, Ben, I'm not exactly an expert in this sort of thing, but maybe 'so' isn't the worrying part of the things she was saying."

"That's not Abigail's car. She was on a date."

"Isn't that that guy? The White House guy?" Riley laughed as the shmuck started babbling about the Easter Egg hunt. "He's weird."

"Wow. You work in a museum, and you live in one."

Abigail laughed "Pretty much." but inwardly rolled her eyes. Thank god that was over! Now she could tell him that they were better off as friends and professional colleagues.

"What clever repartee. She must really like him." Riley laughed again.

"All right, let me give you a tour of the house." Abby thought it would be easier to slip the breakup in if they were discussing history. She realized that the alarm was off and tried hard to banish the mental images of Ian and a gang of men with guns. "That's actually kind of…"

"Oh. Abigail." Relief washed over her, followed closely by indignation when she saw that it was Ben.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just needed to get some things." He said casually. She knew something was up. "Connor, good to see you again."

"Gates." Connor was confused.

"How'd you get in, Ben?" indignation was becoming carefully controlled fury. "Riley! Come out here!"

"What? Oh," he laughed awkwardly. "What are you doing here? I mean, it's your house, but…. Hey! Hey, I sent you a copy of my book. Did you get a chance…?"

"No, I haven't read it yet." Abby was too upset to soften the blow with tales of how busy she had been.

"I know you." Riley was carefully cheerful. You're the White House curator. I'm Riley. We met, uh, back in…"

"Right. You're, uh, Ben's assistant."

"What?"

"Um, maybe I should go?"

"Yeah, I'm really…" this wasn't awkward at all, Abby thought.

"Dinner tomorrow night?" Connor asked.

"Oh, I … I actually already have plans for tomorrow." Maybe she could just do it this way, Abby thought. Maybe he would take the hint, and say he'd call her later, and never do it.

"Oh you do?" Ben just had to say. She shot him a glare.

"Of course you do." Connor said. He sounded so pathetic, and Ben looked so smug, that she heard herself saying,

"But I'm free on Friday." She smiled brightly at him

"Awkward." Riley said. Thanks, that helped, she thought sarcastically, then thought that perhaps she spent too much time with Riley and Kara.

"Oh, great." Connor ignored them and awkwardly kissed her on the cheek. They said goodnight, and she barely waited until he was through the door before rounding on Ben.

"I cannot believe you broke in. What did you take?"

"It's just my things." Ben lied feebly.

She took the box and extended her hand for the ID, ignoring Riley. Ben sighed and handed her the ID badge.

"I need to see the Booth diary page." He protested.

"You saw the page yourself." She fumed. "There is no treasure map on it."

"No, it's a cipher leading to a map." Ben corrected. "Did anyone spectral-image the page?"

"No need to. The ink writing on the page is clearly visible." She handed the box of Ben's to Riley.

"It could have been erased, or faded! You're the director of document conservation. You know this."

"It's not up to me. It's not my department."

"That department reports to your department! Come on, Abigail. One look under infrared." She wanted to … no, she couldn't indulge their fantasies. His that conspiracies were everywhere or hers that they could fix this between them.

"You can have the Boston Tea Tables." She stopped. She loved the Boston Tea Tables. She wasn't caving to her desire to be around him again, she was doing what she had to to get those tables. She turned. "Both of them?"


	2. Hospital or jail?

A/N: Kind of a short one, but right on the heels of the first chapter, and I kinda liked where it ended. I also realized that you kind of jump here so I' m posting the story that explains how Ian got where he is with the other characters.

"We've been looking at this page for hours. There's nothing there."

"Ben, I really don't think we're going to find anything on this page."

"Look at it this way." Riley said. "In a hundred years, no one's going to remember anyone involved in the Lincoln assassination except Booth." Ben took apart that argument and then Abigail found the ink smudge. Riley called Kara on the way back to tell her about it. She picked up on the sixth ring, mumbled something unintelligible, and hung up. He tried again.

"What did you say to me?"

"Rot in hell." She mumbled. "Hospital or jail?"

Riley checked his watch. It was four-thirty.

"Sorry about the time, but everyone's fine." He said. He heard a dial tone again. He tried one more time.

"Riley I like to sleep!" she wailed. He began to tell her about the discovery. He stopped when he heard another voice in the background. This one sounded deep, male and half-asleep, which might account for the thick British accent.

"Riley?" She prompted him. "What's going on?"

"We're going to go to Patrick's tomorrow morning and try to decode it." He said woodenly.

"M'kay. I'll be there. What time?"

"I don't know. Early."

"I'll see you in a couple hours."

"Okay."

"Don't let Ben make the coffee."

"Right." He heard the male voice ask what was going on.

"Might want to leave Ian at home." He couldn't resist saying.

"Riley. It's not what it sounds like. I don't have enough caffeine … I'll see you in a couple of hours. I'll talk to you then." They hung up.

"What was that about Ian?" asked Abigail.

"He was there."

"Are you sure?"

"They're sleeping together."

"No, they're not." Abby said with assurance.

"What?" Ben asked, the conversation finally breaking through his code-breaking fog.

"Kara is sleeping with Ian." Riley said in shock.

"Kara's sleeping with who?" the car swerved a little.

"Ben! The road! She's not sleeping with anyone!"

"Oh my god."

"Riley! Snap out of it. She's not sleeping with him. They probably just worked late, and she let him crash in the guest room."

"How do you know for sure?"

"Because. She doesn't feel like that about him, and it's been awhile for her." Abby was exasperated.

"How do you know?"

"I just know! We're girls, Riley. We do occasionally talk girl-talk."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"I know her, Riley. You do too, if you'll just take a breath."


	3. Fallout

The next morning, bright and early, Nichols made the announcement. Patrick found something called 'Youtube' and had been letting it play for almost an hour, over and over again, as he read the comments posted below.

"Hi," Kara came in, hair damp and cheeks pink. "That's quite a trek, from my place to here." She looked at Riley, doing something clever on his laptop, and Ben standing over him. She looked into the other room at Patrick. "How's he doing?" she asked softly.

"How do I comment, Ben?" Patrick asked.

"Keep working." Ben told Riley, and left without acknowledging her.

"Not good?"

"He discovered Youtube."

"Uh oh." She pulled up a chair. "About last night,"

"Did Ian drop you off?"

"Did you not just hear me say how long a walk it was?"

"Yeah, you walk everywhere and you never complain. I thought it was suspicious."

"Riley, you believe me when I say that we're just friends, right?"

"Sure. Abby does."

"But you and Ben don't. Look, we were working. He brought Scotch."

"And one thing led to another, right?"

"And one thing led to him crashing in the guest bedroom. It was late. He wasn't drunk, but I didn't think he should drive. You know how it is, Riley, when you just get caught up writing and then you look at the clock and suddenly you're exhausted." She said it earnestly. "Riley, you believe me, right?" She went quiet, hurt.

"Death!" Ben said excitedly, emerging from the other room. "Try 'death'."

"What?" asked Riley.

"It's the keycode." Ben swept in and Kara slipped away to get coffee in the kitchen. "The debt that all men pay is death." She heard the men continue to chatter.

A/N: It looks like morning at Patrick's house, and he's in his robe, and then they go to Abigail and Patrick and it's night, but I'm changing it, so they're having brunch or something. Go with it. Thanks.

Kara heard Ben yelling into the phone. She came back in when she heard 'Laboulaye Lady' and backed up a little into the doorway as he yelled "There's a map or a clue to a map on the Statue… She hung up."

"She took your call! That was good." Patrick pointed out.

"Are you saying that there's a treasure map on the Statue of Liberty?"

"Laboulaye was a Mason. They built clues into everything." Patrick told him.

"Did you learn that from my book?" Riley asked. An awkward silent moment that meant very clearly 'no' followed. Kara slipped out. They were too excited to notice.

"So the only question is," Patrick broke the silence, "Which Statue of Liberty is it?"

"Exactly. Is there more than one?"

"There are three, actually, Riley."

"One is in New York, one I in the Luxembourg Garden."

"But he only referred to one as his 'lady'." Ben interjected. And just like that, Riley hacked into the airline server to get them seats on an already over-booked flight.


	4. Diverging Paths

By the time Kara met Ian for lunch, she had moved past being sad that Riley didn't believe her and moved into anger.

"Is everything okay with Riley?" he asked. He had gotten out about a month ago, and Kara had accepted the profuse apologies he made to the group and his story about how the death of his best and only real friend had made him realize how wrong he had been. Ben and Riley remained openly sceptical. They wouldn't even bring it up around Patrick, and Abby, though internally sceptical, was trying to be diplomatic, for Kara's sake. Kara and Ian had become good friends, mostly because he didn't have any and she felt bad about it. She had been hesitant to ask him to help her with the second script she had written. The first was written jointly with Riley and several experienced screenwriters, and was based on the theft of the Declaration of Independence. This was another heist movie, and she had been struggling with the heist part. She had been tempted to drop it, since she hadn't approached anyone about buying it yet, but the story that accompanied the heist just wouldn't get out of her head. So when Ian asked her what she was working on, she reluctantly told him. He offered to help her, reformed criminal that he was, and they had been writing together for a week.

"Kara? Everything squared away with Riley?"

"He thinks we're sleeping together. He didn't believe me when I told him we weren't. That I would never. No offence."

"I still half-expect every time I call you you'll tell me you've got a restraining order."

"And you're a little old for me. But, I mean, what business is it of his? We could be sleeping together. What right does he have to act all offended? My relationships are my own, they're none of his business. Why is sleeping with you any different than being friends?"

"He's none too thrilled about that, either." Ian muttered, but Kara disregarded him.

"I don't have to check with him before I go out with someone. He has no right to control me. It's not like he's asked me out."

"Would you say yes?"

"What? We're just friends. Don't you start too."

"I wouldn't dream. I'm sorry. I crossed a line. I've just – I've seen the way you are together and the way he looks at you and wondered. It's none of my business, and I take you at your word."

"Thank you, Ian." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"I guess this isn't a very good time, but,"

"What? I'm fine. Tell me."

"Well, I have something to ask you, actually, and … Feel free to say no, of course." He was uncharacteristically incoherent. He took a deep breath and began again. "I cleared it with my parole officer to go back to England for a few days."

"That's great."

"I was going to go see Shaw's sister. Apologize. I sent her the money to have a memorial for him, I thought I could go to the cemetery. She got a headstone. But I'm – I'd rather not go alone. And there's no one else to ask."

"Of course I'll come, if you'd like."

"Really?"

"That's what friends do. They're there for each other. The fact that I don't have to get time off work or worry about the expenses incurred by trans-Atlantic travel just make it a little easier for me."

"I'd booked flights tomorrow. I've been trying to work up the nerve to ask you for a week."

"Tomorrow! I'd better pack, then, hadn't I?"

"I don't want to get between you and Riley." He said when he was dropping her off.

"You need me right now." She said gently. "Riley's off on another treasure hunt. He won't even notice I'm gone."

A/N: It hasn't been much fun yet, has it? Sorry about that. Stick with it. Buckingham Palace and the car chase is coming up, which is pretty spectacular.


	5. Paths Converging

A/N: For xHazelEyesx, my lone reviewer.

"Across the sea these twins stand determined to preserve what we are looking for. Laboulaye 1876. We're stuck. All Ben's got is something about trade routes between France and Thailand."

"How'd he get there?" She laughed as she sent the picture to Abby and used Ian's phone to text her.

"Twins to Siamese twins to Siam to Thailand, I think. Anyway, I thought you could translate it for us."

"What did you say they thought it said, again?"

"That's not important. Tell me what you think it says."

"Well, translation is difficult, and incredibly so when we're talking about wordplay. There are any number of ways to translate. You should call Abby. She speaks French, and she knows just as much history as Ben. She'd be perfect."

"That's what I told him. It's not an option."

"But you can call me?"

"Why is that the same?"

"Come on. You acted like a complete jerk."

"About Ian?"

"Yes. It's none of your business who I sleep with. If I want to bring a different guy home every night, you have no say."

"Well, I think 365 guys a year merits an intervention, but you're right."

"What?" she was taken aback. Neither she nor Riley was known for admitting when they were wrong.

"I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, and I absolutely should have believed you when you told me what did happen."

"Riley, have you been talking to Abigail?"

"No."

"Riley?" Ben demanded, equally suspicious that his realization was not entirely his on.

"I'm on speakerphone? Thanks for the heads up. I was about to ask how much looser the screws had gotten."

"Thanks, Kara."

"You're welcome. Call her! She'd want to be a part of this, you know she would."

"She hung up last time."

"You were ranting like a madman and she was probably busy."

"Guys," Riley tried to keep the peace. A beep signalled Kara that Abby had replied. She ignored Ben as she read the long reply about the HMS Resolute and the desks and he argued that he in no way resembled a madman.

"What about resolute instead of determined?" she asked casually. "Resolute twins?"

"Resolute twins. Of course! The HMS Resolute! Buckingham Palace!"

"Good luck." She said, and hung up on his long-winded explanation. She replied once more to Abby and then turned back to Ian.

"How do you feel about some sight-seeing?"

A/N: Riley and Kara can't stay mad at each other for long!


	6. Trouble

A/N: There is nothing I could possibly do to the scene in Buckingham Palace to make it better. But I also couldn't leave it out. The car chase, though ... read on. Also, I haven't really written the actual Ian visit stuff, since it's not really important to the main story. It was more a device to get Kara in Europe as well as develop her friendship with Ian, so I'll probably allude to it some more, but that's about it. Sorry.

"Ben."

"Abigail."

"_Abigail? What's she doing here?" Riley asked over coms._

"What are you doing here?"

"Your dad called me. Said your next clue was here."

"_She's really there?"_

"Look, Ben,"

"_Drop her. Lose her."_

"I want to help."

"That's very nice, but it's kind of a bad time right now."

"A bad time, right now?"

"It's a bad time."

"Ok, I just flew all the way to London to offer my help, and what, you don't need it?"

"_Remember the plan."_

"You're the one making a scene right now."

"I am not making a scene right now!"

"_No, we want to make a scene."_

"Well then, fine! If that's what you want, let's have it out now!" Ben bellowed.

"Ah, so subtle." Riley shook his head and Abigail tried to figure out what was going on.

"Oh let me guess," Ben continued. "It's the wrong time. It's the wrong place. I'm wrong again!" he began to make over-expressive actions to accompany his shouting, which reverberated around the huge hall. "Wrong about us, wrong about Thomas Gates, wrong that you'd like the Queen Anne chair!"

"You're wrong to _assume_ I'd like the chair!"

"You see? You see, everybody listen to this. This is more interesting than that."

"She thinks that even when I'm right, I wrong? Isn't that right! Abigail, just because I answer a question quickly doesn't make it wrong."

"Not if the answer's something we need to figure out together, as a couple. That's what couples do, Ben!"

"Sir. You and the missis, take it outside."

"Oh, now look what you've done. You've brought the little _bobbies_ down on us! You take the missis outside. I'm staying right here." He slid down the banister and was stopped by a rather large man.

"Good afternoon, sir."

"Hallo."

"Been drinking, have we?"

"Just a nip. Just popped down to the pub for a pint! Bit of all right! Going to arrest a man for that? Going to detain a blighter for enjoying his whisk-ey!"

"Sorry, that's enough."

"Bangers and mash. Bubbles and squeak. Smoked eel pie."

"Sir?"

"Haggis!"

"That's it! Dismount the bannister!"

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts! Here they are, standing in a row!" Abigail started yelling, protesting, as she, too was dragged off by security.

"Small ones, big ones, some as big as your head!" he continued.

"That was brilliant." Riley said, getting the security footage and sending it to Kara.

"How are we going to find them?" Ian asked.

"I'm going to call Riley. He sent me video footage of Ben and Abigail making complete fools of themselves a minute ago, so I'd say that part of their plan required them to get detained. They're probably still in jeopardy."

"And you think it's a good idea to distract Riley?"

"I think there's something he hasn't thought of yet." An idea hit her. "Back when you were … morally ambivalent, if you broke into a house and didn't take anything, didn't seriously hurt anyone, what would you have been doing?"

Ian thought for a moment. "Information. Riley would be able to tell if I had copied files from Patrick's computer, but he certainly wouldn't."

"Patrick doesn't keep very much on his computer, but I suppose they couldn't have known that."

"They might have cloned his PDA or cell phone."

"And if they did, would they be able to track his calls?" she speed-dialled Riley.

"I don't know. It seems a little far-fetched, but that seems to be normal around you." Kara swore violently in German.

"You've never been sworn at till you've been sworn at in German." Riley said cheerfully, not put off in the least by the 'greeting'.

"I take it things are going well?"

"Minor deviations. Nothing that I can't handle."

"I think whoever broke into Patrick's house bugged it."

"Better." Ian nodded.

"Ian's there?"

"Yeah, we're outside Buckingham Palace."

"You're in London? Does his parole officer know that?"

"Focus. We have to assume that they didn't break in just to prove they could, and that they're here, waiting for you to come out with whatever it is you get."

"So what do you suggest?"

"An alternate exit, for one. Preferably one that isn't open to the public."

"Okay. Where are you?"

"We're parked on the west side. We'll meet you there."

"Okay. Oh, crap. Gotta go."

"Is everything okay? Riley? Riley?" She heard nothing but a dial tone. "Okay, um, let's go back to the car. They don't need any help."

"All right. Kara, if they're meeting us, could someone else drive? Just – if I get implicated in anything over here,"

"Of course. God, I didn't even think – I'm so sorry. You know, I'll just wait here for them, and you can go."

"I'm not leaving you alone with criminals lurking about to grab Ben or anyone important to him."

"Ian, I'll be fine. Anyway, I'm hardly important to – is that a gun?" He spun.

"Don't point. Okay, turn around. Don't let him see your face." That was the moment that the fire alarm started blaring. Ian snuck a look back at the guy, who was clearly talking on coms.

Then they heard Riley yell "Kara!" They both looked at the 'bad guy', who turned and started walking toward them, hand under his jacket.

"Riley, run." Kara yelled. Ian opened the car doors remotely and then looked back at the guy who was now pulling out a gun. "You drive!" Kara yelled. "Ian, don't be an idiot!" They all ran for the car. Ian climbed in the back seat.

"What are you doing?" he asked the other two. Kara was on the right. "We're in England!"


	7. Car Chase

"I'm not leaving you alone with criminals lurking about to grab Ben or anyone important to him."

"Ian, I'll be fine. Anyway, I'm hardly important to – is that a gun?" He spun.

"Don't point. Okay, turn around. Don't let him see your face." That was the moment that the fire alarm started blaring. Ian snuck a look back at the guy, who was clearly talking on coms.

Then they heard Riley yell "Kara!" They both looked at the 'bad guy', who turned and started walking toward them, hand under his jacket.

"Riley, run." Kara yelled. Ian opened the car doors remotely and then looked back at the guy who was now pulling out a gun. "You drive!" Kara yelled. "Ian, don't be an idiot!" They all ran for the car. Ian climbed in the back seat.

"What are you doing?" he asked the other two. Kara was on the right. "We're in England!"

"Oh my god." Kara muttered, turning the key.

"GO!" Riley shouted.

"Oh dear. Oh dear." She pulled out slowly. Riley put his hand on her knee and pressed down on the accelerator as the windshield exploded. They both screamed.

"We're on the wrong side!" Kara squealed.

"Do you know how to drive?" Ian demanded.

"I got my learners a couple of times." She carefully checked her hands at ten and two and put her blinker on to turn.

"No time!" Riley shouted again.

"Don't yell at me!" she yelled back, gesticulating forcefully with her hands.

"Hands on the wheel!" Both men lunged at her.

"Okay. Okay. I'm okay." She assured them, feeling anything but.

"We should call Ben." Ian thought aloud, looking back. The guy had disappeared, but there was an ominous-looking black SUV several blocks back and gaining fast.

"I'll call." Riley offered as Ian told Kara where to turn, seeking small alleys where they could lose their tails. It had been years since he'd lived in London, though, so he often told her at the last second and forced her to turn illegally, wheels screeching and other cars honking.

"Ben?"

"Little busy, Riley. Are you okay?"

"We're being chased."

"Kara's with you?"

"She's driving."

"What?"

"Ian's giving her directions."

"Ian's here? How could she tell him where we were?" More shots rang out, causing them all to duck.

"Keep your eyes open!" Ian and Riley yelled at Kara at the same time. They had been squeezed shut in anticipation.

"Yeah, I don't think he's involved, Ben." Riley said, surprising himself.

"Where the hell are the police?" Kara shouted, making another hairpin turn.

"Mitch called Abigail. Gotta go."

"Mitch?" Riley heard a dial tone.

"'Be careful, Riley. Sorry another one of my hare-brained schemes put you in mortal peril. Stay safe.' Hey, maybe if we drive past a police station, they'll actually do their jobs." He suggested.

"And arrest Ian. Head down." She ordered, zooming through an amber light. Ian ducked out of sight.

"Ian's not your real name, is it?" Riley asked.

"Nicholas." He extended his hand to shake Riley's.

"Another time please!" Kara asked. Then Riley's phone rang again.

"Ben wanted to talk to you." Abby said, on speakerphone.

"Oh, now he wants to talk."

"We ran a red light. I need you to hack into the database and get the picture for me."

"Okay." Riley said with attitude, putting speakerphone on on his end too and handing the phone to Ian.

"What, can't you do it?"

"No, I can do it. I just don't like people to _assume_ I can do it." They heard Abby laugh.

"Thank you, Riley."

"Got it."

"Okay. They should break off pursuit soon. I'm gonna give them the plank."

"Any time." Kara said sarcastically, making another sharp turn. A moment later, the SUV did break off its pursuit and Kara pulled over and switched seats with Riley.

"Oh thank god." She buckled her seatbelt and then leaned her head back, sighing with relief.

"You can be my getaway driver any day." Ian clapped her on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you did great." Riley said. She looked over at him, but he didn't seem to be worried about one-upping Ian.

A/N: So here's my theory: car chases are bonding experiences. Kara bonded with Abby and Riley last time, and this time Riley and Ian make their peace. For now, at least. I'm still not sure what Ian's intentions are, myself. I welcome any feedback on the subject.


	8. The White House

Okay, I'm back. Sorry about the delay. I've got the next chapter and the last couple written, and the one or two in betweeners all plotted out, so updates should (maybe - possibly) be fairly regular from now on.

"Abigail!"

"Hey, Patrick."

"Nice to see you two together again."

"Yeah, well, we're not." Abby said awkwardly.

"Yeah." Ben agreed.

"Oh. I was hoping to get some of these boxes out of the house." Patrick sighed, taking Abigail's luggage.

Riley followed behind, struggling with all his baggage. He was mocked for it by his friends, but he liked to be prepared for every eventuality. As he liked to remind Kara, anything bad that could happen, would happen to him. They'd gotten about twenty minutes into the movie Just My Luck before deciding that it was too awful to mock. Kara followed with her own bags. Ian had parted ways with them when they had landed. He had to meet with his parole officer, and Patrick had never made peace with him.

"I can't read the whole thing, but I can tell you that these are definitely pre-colonial Native American markings." Patrick said, studying the shockingly good picture of Ben running the red light.

"Easily 500 years old." Added Ben.

"Easily." Patrick agreed, then became very excited when he identified one symbol as 'Cibola' (the 'City of Gold' as Ben kept repeating over and over again).

Ben then read from one of his treasure-hunting books about it.

"Ben, can you imagine of the Confederates got their hands on the City of Gold ... my God." Patrick rose and turned away, as though he knew what was coming.

"I'm going to go talk to her." Ben said. Patrick turned back, resigned. "You're coming with me."

"No!" he said emphatically, moving towards the door. Ben moved to block him.

"Hey. No one else can translate it."

"There are others. There are _several_ others." Patrick insisted desperately.

"For ancient Native American?" Ben asked incredulously. "There's no one better."

"Ancient Native American? Seriously? Do you have any idea how diverse linguistically the First Nations are?" Kara asked incredulously. She was ignored.

"Who?" Riley asked Abby, who shushed him, hiding her smile. "Why didn't you shush her?" he indicated Kara. Abby shushed him again, trying to pay attention to her ex and his father. Riley glared at Kara, who stuck her tongue out.

"Look, Ben, I can't go with you." Patrick pled. "It's been, what? Twenty-five years."

"Thirty-two." Ben corrected.

"That long?" he wondered. "There's a reason why we haven't spoken in 32 years. We have nothing in common."

"Me?" Ben suggested.

"Oh, yes, of course. And I'm sure she's just as proud of you as I am."

"Who?" Riley asked again, more insistently.

"His mom." Abby whispered.

Kara opted out of the field trip to unpack and nap. She'd been in Europe longer than the others and was jetlagged and emotionally exhausted. Shaw's sister had not been happy to see Ian, and it got worse before it got better. Abby went, because she knew and liked Ben's mom, and hoped to mediate somewhat. Riley went because he was curious.

"Will you relax? It's gonna be fine." Ben assured his father.

"Sure. Should look at the bright side. It's been a long time. Maybe she's lost her memory and she won't recognize me."

"I hate her!" a student yelled as she emerged.

"We're in the right place." Patrick quipped.

"I'm gonna go ahead and take myself out of the line of fire for this one." Riley said, though no one was listening. Patrick's stories on the car ride over had made up his mind: self preservation overrode curiosity (sometimes). Treasure-hunting had taught him that lesson. To this day, seeing the stairs was the happiest moment of his life.

"At least we know where the rest of the map is." Ben said. Riley had been caught up by Abigail in hushed tones.

"What?" Patrick asked "You know where it is? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Obviously you have a tendency to overreact!" Ben shouted, then thought better of it. "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Patrick mumbled.

Ben told him.

"The Resolute desk. _The_ Resolute Desk? President's desk."

"President? What president? Our president?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"But that means ... wait so we have to .... The White House?"

"The Oval Office, to be exact."

"Why would I overreact to that?" Patrick smiled.

"Why Abigail, I do believe it's time for you to call your new boyfriend." Ben smiled.

"Okay, wait. You're going to meet what's-his-face for a date. With Ben."

"Well, sort of. We'll say we just ran into each other."

"Cause nothing says my-ex-is-a-stalker better than showing up to a date together. And then you're going to shamelessly flirt to distract him while Ben looks for the plank, even though you have absolutely no intention of ever calling him again and could probably get him fired. Maybe arrested."

"When you put it like that-," Abby stammered.

"Yeah." Riley nodded. They were all sitting around Abigail's kitchen table.

"I'm sorry – does it bother anyone else how willing Ben is to pimp out his girlfriend?"

"I'm not his girlfriend." Abby corrected quickly. Ben barely looked up from his paper.

"Right. Okay. I'm gonna take the day off, but I will leave my cell phone on in case you need bail money."

"You're out of chips." Riley informed Abigail with his mouth full and fragments of Doritos on his sweater as he followed Kara out.

"It was empty." Ben explained.

"Someone must have taken it." Said Abby.

"Brightest men in our country have sat at that desk for over a hundred years." Patrick declared.

"You have a surprisingly positive opinion of politicians for a cynic." Kara said. Riley had called her, and she'd come to brainstorm solutions. It had taken Abby almost an hour to ditch what's-his-face without raising suspicions and Kara suspected that he was still searching the Easter crowd, looking for her.

"Take a look at this." Ben turned on the digital camera.

"Of course one of them would have found the map." Patrick said, with a glance at Kara.

"The symbol stamped into the wood – it's the Presidential Seal." Said Patrick as he, Abby, and Ben clustered around the camera and Riley and Kara stood on tiptoes behind them.

"It's not the Presidential Seal." Abby explained in her guest lecturer voice. "See – the eagle's holding a scroll instead of olive branches." Riley turned and walked away. Kara sighed, hoping Ben wouldn't-

"I'm not sure what this is." But of course, he did.

"So what do we do now?" Patrick asked. Kara went over to Riley and gave him a hug.

"Did none of you read my book?" he asked plaintively.

"The eagle clutching the scroll."

"Do you know what it means?" Ben asked.

"Yeah." Riley nodded. "But it's not something that I can tell you. It's something that I have to show you … in my book." He grinned.

Kara sighed again when Ben ripped open the manila envelope.

"You didn't even open it?" Riley asked.

"I was moving." Ben explained.

"Chapter 13."

"The President's Secret Book?"

"The President's Secret Book." Riley said with a flourish. "It happens to be a collection of documents for presidents, by presidents, and for president's eyes only. And I'm not just talking about JFK here, guys. The 18 and a half missing minutes of the Watergate tapes." Kara glanced at the others. Ben was reading, brow furrowed. Abby smiled sceptically. Patrick's face was impassive. "Did the Apollo really land on the moon? Did it? Did it? And the coup de grace … Area 51."

"Come on, Riley. That's … that's an urban legend." Abby laughed.

"Is it, Abigail? Is it?" He focused on her. He had really learned from the lectures they had tagged along to and the fellow conspiracy nuts who tried to convince Kara while they were doing research.

Abby laughed again. "It's just totally …"

"Crazy?"

"Yeah."

"Hm. 'Cause last time I checked, we pretty much make our living on crazy."

"He's got a point." Ben muttered.

"I guess so." Abby conceded without real belief.

"Same symbol." Patrick pointed to the book.

"_So much_ about your relationship just became clear to me." Kara said to Abigail, still watching Riley smirk.

"It was released in '66 under the Freedom of Information Act. Eagle and the scroll, the secret symbol in the President's Book."

"So you're saying that whatever was on that plank is now in the President's Secret Book?" Patrick asked. He might yet be a conspiracy convert, Kara mused. She had seen him one day with Riley's book, only a couple chapters in.

"Ben." Riley said, knowing he was winning. If it was you trying to convince me … you'd have less evidence, and I'd already believe you by now." Abby looked at Riley with new eyes. Kara watched Ben stroking his nose.

"What's our next move?" he asked.

"Sadusky." She said.

"What?"

"He hinted to us that he might know something – when Riley was researching."

"Really?" Ben felt better about being convinced.

"You think he'll tell Ben something?" Riley asked plaintively.

"I think they bonded in a really weird way in that church. Plus, Ben isn't planning on writing about it."


	9. Breaking Point

"All I need is a few minutes with him." Ben said, after explaining his conversation with Sadusky.

"Oh, is that all?" Kara snorted.

"Ben, even if you were married to the president, you wouldn't be able to get a few minutes with him." Riley said.

"Not when he's surrounded by his handlers. But if I get him alone…"

"How do you expect to get the president alone?" Kara looked at Abby, who was curiously quiet. She looked worried and exasperated all at once, like she knew where this was going to go and she didn't like it.

"Before the Civil War, the states were all separate. People used to say, 'the United States _are_.' Wasn't until the war ended people started saying, 'the United States _is_.' Under Lincoln … we became one nation."

"And Lincoln paid for it with his life."

"So did Thomas Gates."

"Right."

"With his life. So. How am I going to get him alone? I'm gonna kidnap him. I'm gonna kidnap the President of the United States." There was a second of silence. Then Abby laughed.

"That's not funny."

"I'm your father." Patrick broke in. "How do you expect me to respond to this? I can't let you ruin your life."

"Are you out of your mind?" Abby and Riley both stood. Kara sat, waiting for the argument to be over.

"All you have to do it read my book, and you'd know that you can't get to that book." Riley ranted.

"Exactly how do you plan on doing this?" Patrick asked as the other two fell silent.

"I was thinking Mount Vernon."

"Oh." Patrick thought about it.

"What?" Abby asked.

"I'm in." Riley shrugged.

"You've got to be kidding me, right?" Kara asked. Ben stared evenly at her. "Last time, your excuse was that Ian would have destroyed the Declaration of Independence. Presumably because he's British, and it's still 1776, and they're evil."

"Mitch will stop at nothing to find this treasure." He snapped.

"Please." Kara snorted softly. "Isn't that a little bit pot/kettle?"

"What?" Everyone looked at her, startled.

"Ben and Mitch – they're remarkably similar."

"Except he's willing to sacrifice other people to get to his goal." Ben said in that slightly condescending tone of his.

"Oh, my mistake. You wouldn't know anything about that. I mean, all your friends wouldn't have put up with your treasure-hunting obsession if you weren't a good friend, right? Oh, wait – who do I know who was your friend before we found the treasure?"

"I was." Riley said defensively.

"You were, Riley. You've always been his staunchest supporter. No matter what he asks of you – but he couldn't even open the envelope and _look_ at your book."

"That's not fair," Riley said weakly. "He was moving, and Abigail,"

"Yes, let's talk about Abby. The treasure, his lifelong goal has been found, achieved, but he still can't pay enough attention to his adoring girlfriend to make a relationship work. How many people did you hurt, Ben? How many times did you tell them you'd call and forget, or just get too busy to care about whatever relationship you were in? After you stole the Declaration, Ben, you didn't go to your father's house to share that long-awaited moment of vindication with him. You went because you needed something from him. Doesn't it say something that your best friends are Riley, Abigail, your father, the agent who tried to put you in jail, and the man who tried to kill you?" she meant Ian. She deflated, anger gone, in one soft sigh. "Patrick, I sincerely hope you clear his name. I'm sorry, I'm done." She shook her head as she walked away.

Riley looked troubled. Abigail chewed on her lip. Patrick was looking at his feet.

"Hey!" Ben stalked after her. "What do you know about me? Who are you to pass judgement on me?" She whirled, anger back. Riley made a quiet buzzer noise that brought a flicker of an exasperated smile to Abby's face.

"What do I know about you? I know that you let down everyone who counts on you. You hurt the people you claim to love – the people I love – over and over again. I've been there, and you know what? I prefer to look down the barrel of a gun. At least Wilkinson's honest about what he's doing." She walked away again, and this time Abigail's hand on his arm prevented Ben from going after her. He walked slowly back to the group.

"Is that true?" Ben asked. "Am I – inconsiderate?"

"Ben," Abby shook her head.

"She and her parents – I mean, it's complicated. I don't think that was all about you, you know?" Riley was uncomfortable.

"So that's a yes?"

"I hardly set a good example for you, Ben. I mean – I lost your mother that way. That's why I was so keen for you to give all of it up – I didn't want you to repeat my mistakes." Patrick said. "The part about the relationships – that's probably true. It's exactly what I meant."

"So you don't want to help me?" he looked around at them.

"Nobody said that." Abigail assured him.

Riley looked after Kara as they heard her let herself out, then looked back to find Ben staring at him. "I told you I was in," he shifted uncomfortably. "You're my friend, Ben."

"This is as important to me as it is to you, Ben." Patrick said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"But you guys – Abigail and Riley – you're not a part of this. You don't have to be a part of this. I don't want you guys to have to go to jail because of me. This is a family matter."

"Ben," Abigail started to protest, but Riley cut in.

"We are family." He said simply.

"And Kara?" Ben asked.

"Every family's a little dysfunctional." Riley shrugged with a small, faked smile. Ben smiled back, then turned away to explain his plan. He didn't catch Riley looking back at the window.


	10. Sadusky's Visit

A/N: This was the last chapter I actually had to write. There are three more after this one. Ian's contribution to the ending is actually rather shocking, if I do say so myself. This is kind of an awkward bridge chapter in which nothing much happens, but it picks up from here.

Kara went straight home after leaving Patrick's house, and stayed there, feeling a little sorry for herself, reflecting on what she'd said while watching MASH reruns. Ian called her the next day and she told him what happened, saying only that Ben had wanted them to do 'something crazy'.

"Crazier than stealing the Declaration of Independence?" he asked.

"Oh yeah."

"I'll be right over."

"You don't have to," she began to say.

"I'll be right over." He repeated gently, but firmly.

"Thanks." She felt a little relieved that she hadn't dissuaded him. It hadn't been five minutes when she heard a knock on the door. It couldn't be Ian already. He'd called from his home phone, not his cell.

She looked through the peephole before opening the door. Sadusky. She took a deep breath and then pulled the door open.

"Hi," she acted confused. "What are you doing here? What has Ben done this time?"

"You haven't been watching the news." It wasn't a question.

"No." She glanced at the agents behind him. "Would you like to come in?"

"Yes, please." She stepped back and three agents came in. Sadusky and Kara sat in the living room. The other two remained standing. "Kara, he kidnapped the President. He let him go, everyone's all right."

"Good one. You know, in – 95? – Somewhere around there, a guy with a knife spent half an hour wandering around the grounds of the prime minister's house before the PM's wife saw him. Either she or the PM himself were all set to use an Inuit sculpture to defend themselves."

"I was serious."

"I was serious. You can't be. I mean, I'm Canadian. You guys are like – obsessed with the president! How did Ben kidnap the President?"

"It's an ongoing investigation. He let him go, and then went to the Library of Congress."

"Why?"

"It's an ongoing investigation."

"Why are you here, or can't you tell me that either?"

"Have you been in contact with Ben, Abigail, Patrick or Riley?"

"Not since I walked out."

"And why did you do that?" he asked calmly, his FBI face on.

"Am I under arrest?" she asked, getting worried.

"I'm just asking you some questions, Kara. Would you prefer that we did it in an official capacity?"

"No, I'll answer, I'm just – thrown. You understand. Um – it disturbed me, the way he – for lack of a better word – pimped out his girlfriend to get into the Oval Office."

"He was in the Oval Office!" Sadusky half-stood.

"You know Ben. He's insane, but he didn't leave a bomb or anything. He was looking for information – I don't know exactly what, he wasn't really in an explaining sort of a mood. I told him – all of them – that I was done. I didn't like how little he seemed to care about putting his friends in – this situation."

"We're prepared to offer you a deal. You won't be prosecuted if you help us to find Ben and the others."

"I may not support what Ben's doing, but I'm not going to sell out my friends, Sadusky."

"Look – they haven't hurt anyone. Yet. Can you guarantee that it won't happen? These are my friends too. I want to bring them in before anything else happens." She met his eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay. What do you want me to do?"

They had her phone hooked up in no time, Sadusky and two others listening in.

"I want your word that this is the end of it. I help you and you don't pull any tapping of phones Patriot Act stuff."

"You got something to hide?" Asked one of the sidekicks.

"How do you still have a job?" she fired back, recognizing him as the man she'd assaulted to allow Ben to get away the first time.

"I give you my word." Sadusky said. "Anytime you're ready." He nodded to her. She took a deep breath and dialled.

"Hello?"

"Riley?"

"Kara! I'm so glad you called. I'm sorry about,"

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. Ian's on his way over," she saw Sadusky's glare. "He's just stuck in traffic or construction or something. I told him to take the surface streets, but,"

"Surface streets?"

"Yeah. But you know how he is. Men and driving without directions." She laughed, then got serious. "Riley – I saw on the news – you guys are in big trouble now, and there's no Ian to trade for clemency this time."

"We'll give them Mitch. He's kidnapped Ben's mom, but does the FBI care about that?" he sounded angry. "Look, I have to go. Ben wants to move again."

"Where are you?" she asked at Sadsky's prodding.

"Florida. Between Black Water Swamp and Florida Hills. South of Oscala National Forest. Are you coming?"

"What do you think?"

"Right. Bye."

"Bye." She hung up and looked up at Sadusky, who was already halfway out the door. The tech guys took a little longer, gathering up their stuff, and when Ian arrived they were still busy. She close her computer.

"What happened here?" he asked.

"I'll tell you later. Let's go see a movie." Kara suggested brightly.

"Ok-ay." He said. "But what about?" he pointed to the three men and one woman still present.

"Lock up and then leave the key under the mat, okay?" She pressed a key into the woman's hand. "Let's go, I don't want to miss the previews."

"What's going on? Are you okay?" he asked in the car.

"I just don't really feel like talking about it, that's all." She said. He fell silent. They paid for tickets and popcorn and went into the movie theatre, the first two to get there.

"I don't think we'll miss the previews." Ian said dryly.

"I hate previews." Kara said. "But you're on parole and I don't know if they bug your car." She spoke so quietly he could barely hear her. "They asked me to call Riley and let them listen in."

"The FBI?"

"They're halfway to Florida by now."

"Riley's not in Florida, is he?"

"You're on parole. Sadusky would love to throw you into jail. I'm going to the bathroom. Hold my popcorn."

"I'm coming."

"I know it's a girl thing to go to the bathroom together, but it's really more of an all-girl thing. And I've never understood it."

"I'm coming with you to not-Florida."

"No, you're not. I've told you too much already. When Sadusky comes back, you tell him everything I told you."

"I'll follow you. I'm better at the criminal stuff than you are."

"Ian,"

"You know I'm right. Come on, out the side exit in case anyone's following us."

"That's where I was going and why I brought you to the movies, duh. I've seen an action movie, you know."

"We need new cell phones."

"Okay."

They bought disposable cell phones and took a cab to a small airstrip outside the city where they hired a plane. Ian swore the man who ran the operation was not on his list of banned contacts, just didn't ask a lot of questions. They paid cash, Kara having a rather large stash hidden in her house for such eventualities (anything could happen around Ben).

"You still don't know our destination." Kara said seriously. "Are you sure?"

"I got shot at too, remember? And I'm very put out about it." Ian deadpanned.


	11. Reunited

"Hello, Mitch," Ben said, stepping into his path. The henchman stuck a gun into his mother's side. "Mom,"

A kid rushed by with his mother.

"I knew you'd figure out the message I gave your father."

"The hummingbird was good. Let her go."

"We're the ones with the firepower, and you're giving me orders."

"I kidnapped the president. The FBI is on their way right now to arrest me, and I'm sure they'll love to meet you. They'll find us both and arrest us both. That path doesn't lead to the City of Gold, does it?"

"This man has information you need. He has a letter-"

"From Queen Victoria to General Albert Pike." Ben finished.

"How do you know about that?"

"I read about it, in a book."

"I'm afraid he's burned it." Emily said.

Ben recovered quickly. "All right ... You've had me do all the work so far, why stop me now? You tell me what you know, I'll find the City of Gold, prove Thomas Gates' innocence, you can have the treasure."

"What?" Riley asked. He was supposed to name the finder's fee this time!

"I'm going with you." Mitch said. "But if anyone's gonna be credited for discovering the City of Gold, it's going to be me."

"But your partners stay here, and all the guns." Ben said.

"What makes you think I'll agree?"

"What makes you think you have a choice?" Kara asked, a gun to the back of his head. Ian and she had disarmed and knocked out his backup. Ian had a gun on the last conscious one.

"Kara!" Ben snapped. "Because you need that treasure. Believe me, I know." Kara rolled her eyes and passed the gun to the henchman. She'd taken a gun safety course after their first little 'adventure'. Riley wouldn't touch them, but she preferred to be prepared for eventualities.

"All right, Gates. We'll do it your way. But believe me ... I don't need the guns."

"I don't need the guns!" Kara imitated to Riley as the others fell in line.

"Which president? The president?" Emily demanded.

"I thought it best not to tell you." Patrick said, pointedly ignoring the presence of Ian and Kara, who was guilty by association.

"You got here!" Riley hugged Kara. "I wasn't sure Ian would get the riddle."

"Riddle? What riddle?" Ian asked.

"I just traced Emily's cell phone GPS." Kara said.

"You remembered how to do that?" Riley asked, pleased. He hadn't thought she was paying attention when he'd showed her.

"For the record, I didn't fail to solve the riddle. I never heard any riddle." Ian interrupted their moment.

"Let's go." Kara urged, as the others were getting away.

"I still don't see anything that looks like a noble bird." Said Abigail.

"All right. Let's have it. What did the letter say? What's the clue from Queen Victoria's letter?" Ben asked Mitch.

"The entrance shall only be revealed under a cloudless rain."

"So we come back when it's raining?" Riley asked.

"Sun showers?" wondered Kara. That would be bad. They were on kind of a deadline here. Sooner or later Sadusky was going to figure out that he'd been sent on a wild goose chase, and he was going to be pissed about it.

"Cloudless. Could simply mean the sun. You need a sunny day ... and rain. You need water."

"What if we poured water on the rocks?" Ian suggested, determined to earn back his riddle-solving reputation. They began to do so.

"Em? Water?" Patrick offered.

"What's this in my hand? Are you blind?" she snapped back.

Kara climbed down the side of the rock to refill her water bottle in the lake. Riley threw his empty one down and she threw it back up to him, full.

This is ridiculous. Are we going to water the whole thing?" Emily asked as she got hers refilled for the second time.

"Oh! That's it I've found it! Everybody over her, I've found it!" Abigail yelled excitedly.

"Look at that. It's an eagle."

"There it is."

"The noble bird will give you passage."

"Uh-huh. Now what?"

"We need to join hands, and in a noble manner, pass over the bird." Riley said. Emily looked at him. Kara snorted.

"It indicates direction ..." Patrick said.

"Somehow that bird will rise from the rock and kind of caw..." He stood flapping his arms and cawing softly as Kara and Ian choked down laughter, watching Emily's reaction to Riley's antics.

"You can stand around guessing for a while, or I can give you the next clue." Mitch suggested. "Surrender your hand to the heart of the warrior."

"The eagle is the symbol of the warrior." Emily said. Ben started to surrender his hand. "No wait! Ben, wait! That's probably a horrible trap. Tell him!" she ordered her ex-husband.

"It's a horrible trap." Patrick said obediently.

"It would be a pity to come this far and not even try, now, wouldn't it?" Mitch suggested. Kara moved out of his way with a flourish of her hand.

"I'll do it, Ben." Riley offered.

"It's OK. Surrender your hand." Ben mused, then stuck his hand in and started screaming.

"I am sorry, I couldn't resist." Abby hit him. Patrick laughed. "It, uh, feels like a latch." Ben tried in earnest. He pulled it and the rocks on another boulder started cracking, revealing a door they rushed through.

"Why with the underground tunnels?" Kara lamented. "Why couldn't it be on a mountain. I can totally do heights!"

"You don't have to come." Riley said. She bit her lip, watching as Ian crossed through the door. She and Riley were the last ones left.

"Somebody's got to keep you out of trouble." She decided.

"Oh! Ben, look at this! It's beautiful! Patrick! Patrick!" Emily was in raptures.

"What's that?" Kara indicated the large structure.

"Appears to be a counterweight to hold the door open." Ben said.

"What is that sound? Riley asked of the weird structural groaning. He touched a rope and it snapped. Patrick tried to hold the door open, but failed.

"Sorry!" Riley said meekly.

"You OK?" Mitch asked Riley, offering him a hand up.

"No." He took the offered hand without thinking.

"It's locked." Patrick said.

"Patrick, what have you done?" Emily demanded.

"It's some kind of a bolt. I didn't do it."

"Okay, this is not good. Locked in. Underground. Not good." Kara repeated.

"Breathe." Ian urged matter-of-factly.

"Only one way out of here now. Forward." Mitch was almost pleased by the development. Maybe that was why he helped me up, Riley thought as he rubbed Kara's back.

"Oh! I've never seen so many relics. So beautifully preserved." Emily was distracted from the situation by the untold riches of her surroundings.

"Looks like we'll be moving some rocks, people. There's a tunnel back here." Mitch said.

"Guys, look at this." Riley urged. "It's a little golden man. Look. It's got a tiny little torso. Look at that. It looks like ..." the floor disappeared beneath them, sending everyone but Patrick, Emily, and Ian, who had been far enough behind, down onto a tilting platform.

"Ben! Ben!" his parents screamed before the floor went back to normal. Ian held them both back.

"Move back! Move back, all of you! Other side!" Ben, hanging off the side of the platform, shouted to his friends trying to help him. "Back up! Back up!" And as they did, the platform untilted and he climbed on. Then it was a balancing act.

"We'll find them. I'll figure something out. I'll tell you what we're going to do." Patrick said, freeing himself from Ian with an ungrateful jerk.

"No, I'll tell you." Emily argued.

"No, you don't. I'll tell you!"

"No, I'll tell you! Look, there's that passageway. You go down there, you pull those stones out, because that's gotta lead somewhere." She ordered.

"That – is a good idea." Patrick admitted. Ian went to help him. Patrick and Emily carefully ignored his presence.

"There's nothing, just a big ole black hole." Mitch said of their surroundings beyond the platform.

"Ben, look at this. There's a ladder. I mean, what's left of a ladder." Abigail shrugged.

"Toss me the light."

"Riley. Move slowly to that corner. No, wait! As I move to this corner." Ben ordered. "One step at a time. Good. If we can raise this corner, I think I can reach it." He said.

Mitch moved toward the corner too and Riley, Kara and Abigail struggled to keep the balance.

"Stop! Red light!" Riley held out his hand.

"You're not helping!" Abigail yelled.

"You know, I actually kinda like this room." Kara mused.

"Are you serious?" shouted Riley.

"I can get up there just as easy as you." Mitch said.

"Just stop!" Ben yelled.

"Guys!" Abigail appealed.

"I\m just saying, there's plenty of space." Kara said.

"It's four against one here. I ain't going last, and if I'm not going last, I might as well go first." Mitch said. Quite reasonably, actually, thought Kara.

"Look!" Riley tried to draw their attention to the plight of the other three.

"What's it going to be?" Mitch asked.

Ben and Mitch switched places and everyone but Mitch headed for the back corner.

"You ready?" Mitch asked.

"Go." Ben ordered. They all ran for the middle, and Mitch clambered up the ladder.

"Mitch! Come on!" Riley yelled as he didn't reappear in the mouth of the tunnel.

"I've been doing the math here, and ..." Abigail began.

"I know." Ben nodded.

"We're gonna have to leave one person behind," Abigail looked at her friends, distressed.

"Just promise you'll come back for me." Riley said immediately. Kara started looking through his bag. "I can do the math too."

"That makes you next." Ben said to Abby.

"I'll go last. 'No, we'll figure something else out, Riley'. 'We need you up there. Please, Riley.'" Riley imitated Ben and Abigail.

Abby laughed.

"I'm just kidding. Go." Riley said, hiding his hurt.

Kara stopped digging in his bag, having successfully found the rope she was looking for and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "Ridiculous. Out of the question. I'm not leaving you, Riley," she said matter-of-factly. "I've got a plan."

"What?" Abby asked.

"You go, then Riley, then Ben. Riley, leave me the bag." She slipped the rope through the belt-loop of Abigail's jeans. "When you get up there, you find somewhere secure to anchor this. I will balance my weight with Riley's backpack and get as close as I can to the edge so that I won't break anything when I hit the wall."

"I can do that." Riley broke in.

"No." Kara dismissed Riley.

Ben and Abigail made eye contact and he gestured to the ladder, pulling Riley and Kara a step back every so often as Abigail moved forward. They continued to argue.

"Why not?"

"I'm more co-ordinated than you are."

"Oh, barely." He scoffed.

"Ready?" Ben asked them.

"Go!" Abby said, and Riley and Kara broke off their recollections of the other's clumsier moments to run to the center. Abby struggled with the ladder until Mitch finally appeared and gave her a hand.

"All right, you next." Kara shooed Riley towards the corner.

"Why not Ben?"

"Because he's taller than you and my body weight alone won't be able to raise the platform as high."

"Well, then you should go."

"No, my lightness is an advantage when I'm the only one left."

"I'm the guy!"

"Whoa! What is that supposed to mean?" Ben was uncomfortable, trying to break in and hurry this along, but the other two were oblivious.

"You got to be the hero last time! Why can't I do it this time? You beat up Shaw and Ian."

"Yeah, but when I made up the plan to split up you insisted you would be the one who would carry it out. So it's my turn." Kara smiled triumphantly.

"Or, maybe the lesson we learn is that I am stubborner. And you should get moving because this thing is old and will not last forever."

The platform's support buckled and they were thrown away from the middle.

"Good one!" Kara yelled at Riley as they tried in vain to stabilize the platform.

"I told you so!" he shot back.

"Go, Riley!" Ben shouted. He was the farthest from it, and Kara was on the other back corner. Riley was nearest the ladder, and obediently jumped for it.

"Ben! Kara!" Abby shouted, throwing the rope. Kara caught it and moved towards Ben, but the platform's support gave out again and the floor slipped away from her. She slid off the platform despite her best efforts and hit the wall with a groan a good fifteen feet below Riley, leaving Ben alone on the platform

"Mitch, the idol. OK, Ben, we found a gold idol here. We can roll it over to offset your weight!" Abby shouted, hands tied up with holding the rope Kara was dangling from.

"Then roll it!" he shouted back.

"Here it comes." Abby warned him as Mitch did the dirty work. Ben jumped over it and ran for the corner, then took a leap towards the ladder, catching it with one hand.

"Come on, Ben! Here, give me your hand!" Riley, still only halfway up, helped him to safety.

"Thanks, Riley." Ben said when he was safe and on solid (probably) ground again.

"Why couldn't a girl see me do that?" Riley muttered as he pulled himself onto the ledge. Mitch had already taken the rope just ahead of Abby, and Riley grabbed it closer to the edge to help pull Kara up.

"You all right?" Ben asked Abigail.

"You're ok. You're ok." She repeated to herself, relieved beyond the ability to form full sentences. Riley stepped forward and grabbed Kara's elbow to pull her up. She rose, brushed herself off, and glared at him.

"So ... Forward." Mitch rolled his eyes at Riley's confusion and tried to refocus the group.


	12. Ian's True Colours

"What is this?" Patrick, Emily, and Ian had come to a deep canyon.

"Oh! Oh, oh!" Emily almost fell in and Patrick pulled her back.

"Put your light over there." He ordered.

"What are you doing?" Emily demanded. Ian had long ago resolved to say as little as possible. Patrick threw the lantern onto the other bank of the canyon.

"I can't see anything! This it?" Riley asked.

It's oil." Ben realized, and lit it with a flare to reveal the room.

"It's a dead end! There's no way out! We have to turn back."

"No, No Patrick this is crazy." Emily said, worried, though she wouldn't admit it.

"Move." Ian ordered, pulling the vine from the older man's hand.

"Excuse me!" Patrick protested.

"I'll go first." Ian insisted.

"And then what? We're supposed to trust you?" he snorted.

"I'm a former thief, not a sociopath. And if this thing snaps and you plummet to your death, how do you think Ben will react when he comes for you, eh?" With that, he jumped. He made it to the other side and swung the vine back, hard. They managed to grab it and Patrick tried, but swung less energetically than Ian had and couldn't get a foot down on the opposite side.

"I got it," he said when Ian would have grabbed him.

"I got you, I got you!" Emily declared when he swung back over to her side. She was pulled along. They both jumped off on the correct side, fell, laughed, and kissed as Ian turned to head down the dark tunnel, feeling exceedingly uncomfortable.

"There's no forward!" Abby said as she, Ben, and Mitch looked around.

"How long do you think it takes them to notice the giant wheel in the middle of the room?" Riley asked Kara quietly as the latter ditched the coat that was soaking through, cold, and heavy and did her best to ignore him, still annoyed.

"It's not forward, it's down! All this water has to go out somewhere, otherwise it'd be filled up. Help me turn this wheel." Ben finally got it.

They turned the wheel, which cut off the flow of the waterfalls, and Mitch stated the obvious. "The water's going down."

Both groups followed tunnels into the City of Gold.

"Ben!" Emily exclaimed.

"We found it!" He yelled triumphantly.

"Thomas was right!" Patrick yelled back.

"No, you were right!" Ben smiled at his father.

"I'm sorry I smeared your great-grandaddy's good name. It seemed like the only way to get you in on the hunt. But this was a chance for the Wilkinson family to make it's mark on history, to find the City of Gold, to be remembered." Mitch said.

"What happened to you? Your father was worried sick about you," Emily scolded Ben, having reached the other group.

"You were frantic. She was frantic." Patrick insisted. Having hugged and examined Ben, Emily moved past him to Abigail as Patrick did his own inspection of their son.

"Dad, Did you – stop it – did you happen to see any branches that could lead out?"

"No, it's all blocked. You can't even get back to the big, round stone door."

"You're all right?" Ian asked Kara and Riley, concerned in his stiff British way.

Kara shrugged casually. "These guys have got nothing on you."

"She's mad at me." Riley complained, still not understanding why.

Ian looked from Riley to Kara, slightly amused.

"Seriously? 'Why couldn't a girl see me do that?'" she whined in an unfair imitation of him. " 'I'm the guy,'" Ian looked down at his shoes, trying to hide his smile.

"Well Ben always gets to be the hero with the weird history knowledge and magical riddle-solving abilities who gets the girl and Mitch has letters from the queen and guns and Ian's gets to be the villain with the British accent,"

"And weekly meetings with his parole officer?" Ian suggested.

"And I'm just the sidekick third wheel! Patrick got the girl this time, for god's sake!"

"I didn't get a girl." Ian interjected.

"Just wait," Riley said bitterly. "Girls go for the bad-boy routine. Stupid accent!" he muttered, and stormed off.

"If he's the sidekick third wheel, what does that make me?" Kara asked, irritated.

"For two intelligent people I genuinely like, you two are idiots." Ian shook his head at her.

Then the dams broke and all hell broke loose as the water started streaming out of seemingly every crevice.

"I'm telling you, all this water goes out somewhere. We'll find it!"

"Ben! There's a current!" Patrick cleverly discovered.

"Follow it. There's gotta be a central drain!" Ben shouted.

"It's under us!" Patrick told the group. They made their way into the lower chamber.

"The water's rising too fast! Let's get that door open so we don't all drown!" Ben suggested, and Mitch helped him turn the wheel.

"Ben, it slopes down! It's a drainage tunnel. But it fills with water when you open the door." Patrick informed him.

"We need to find something to stick under it to keep it open!" Abby suggested, not wanting to leave someone behind as was obviously the intention again.

"No, if it's open, the tunnel will stay flooded! We need to get to the other side and close the door!" Patrick insisted.

"Patrick, Emily, go!" Abby urged.

Mitch let go and Ben couldn't hold it by himself.

"Mitch, we've got to be on the other side of that door!"

"Nobody leaves unless I say so. That door is not going to stay open by itself. We both know what has to happen here, Ben." Mitch said.

"One of us keeps the door open and stays behind." He nodded.

"I vote Mitch." Riley said.

"This isn't a democracy." Mitch could see this devolving. He punched Ben and Riley and held a knife to Abby's throat. Ian and Kara were too far away to reach him in time. Ian berated himself for not seeing this coming. Mitch was not used to this group's team-think approach, and he knew well that he wasn't a part of that team. Ian wasn't sure he was, either, but he had at least been prepared to wait a little longer before making any move.

"All right! All right! I'm staying! Look, I'm staying!" Ben backed up to the wheel, hands spread peacefully.

All right, this is how it's going to work. You and me are going to open that door. Anybody tries to leave before me, I drop the door, we start this all over again. Try any funny business, I guarantee you people are going to get hurt!"

"I won't. You have my word. Just let her go." Ben begged. Ian and Kara were looking around, sizing up the situation. But he did have the knife and Kara's martial arts were of little help here – the enclosed space and the rising water made speed near-useless. Weight and his weapon were far more relevant. Their eyes met and Ian gave her a little head-shake. He could feel a plan starting to form in his sub-conscious, but it did them no good to have someone stabbed.

"Ben!" Abby cried.

"No, we're not leaving without you." Emily insisted.

"Abigail! You make my parents leave. You make my parents leave." There was a moment that seemed to take forever as the water rushed in around them and would never be long enough. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she finally nodded and turned back towards the others.

"Let's go,"

"No!" Riley protested.

"Let's go, please! Patrick, Emily, He's trying to save our lives!" Abby begged them. Ian joined her, and Kara got Riley.

"I'm ready!" Ben said when the door was open and he was braced.

"All right, it's all yours!" Mitch said.

A rock fell outside and propelled Ben off the log he was bracing. Emily was caught halfway through. Mitch opened the door again and saved her. Ben was caught this time, but at least his head was above water.

Ben tried to brace the door with a log but failed.

"If I'm stuck in the door, it stays open, both rooms fill up, and we all drown! Open the door! I'll get you out!" he promised. They were the only two left.

"The current's too strong! I open the door, you'll be washed down!" Mitch said without much hope. "I found the City of Gold! I found it! And no one will ever know?" he lamented.

"We can figure this out! We can all get out!" Ben insisted.

"It's not a puzzle! No more puzzles, Ben! We're all going to die, or it can just be me! Tell them I found it!"

"Don't quit! Mitch!" He opened the door with a superhuman effort and Ben was washed through.

The room filled up rapidly. Mitch stayed as close to the top as he could, took the last breath he could.

"Thank you." Ben said to Abby as they leaned against one another, both relieved.

"We haven't officially met. I'm Riley."

"Oh, hi," Emily shook his hand.

"This is Kara." He pointed.

"Where's Ian?" she demanded suddenly, ignoring Emily's greeting. They all began looking around as though he would pop up, but the bare tunnel held no place to hide in.

"He was here a minute ago." Riley said.

"He couldn't have just disappeared!"

"He ducked under to try to free Ben." Abigail said. "He must have slipped under the door."

"I didn't notice, but I had a couple things on my mind." Ben said.

"Against the current? Why?" Kara asked, close to panic. No answer was forthcoming.


	13. The End

A/N: the end. This is actually more of an epilogue, I guess. I'd really like to hear your reaction to the end. Thanks for reading.

"Sir, for you."

"Sadusky." He answered brusquely. "Ben! We were just talking about you. Ready to turn yourself in?" he asked warmly.

"Not quite. We found the City of Gold." Ben smiled.

"Doesn't matter. You still committed a federal crime." Sadusky said.

"Stop. Stop it." Abigail chided Riley, who started hitting her when he saw the President. She was wrapped in a blanket. Kara was quiet, contemplating the fate of the two trapped men.

"Mr. President?" A Secret Service guy looked for orders.

"Craig, give us a minute." The president ordered.

"Sir, for your information, this is the man who kidnapped you." 'Craig' said helpfully.

"Junior high called. It wants its 'FYI' back." Riley muttered to Kara, trying to get her to smile. It didn't work.

"As I recall, we were exploring a hidden tunnel, and a door closed accidentally, and this man saved my life." The President said with a faint smile.

"Yes, sir." Craig backed off.

"Gates. For the record, after centuries of exploration, on this day, you have brought honour to your country and your family. You've done this country a great service. I thank you."

"Thank you." Ben said.

Riley smiled.

"Craig." The Secret Service Agent passed him something. "I thought you might want to take a look at tomorrow's headlines."

"Tomorrow?" Ben asked. The paper read 'Thomas Gates a Civil War Hero'. "Thank you, sir."

"All of you, along with Emily and Patrick Gates and Ian Howe, will get credit for this discovery." Kara turned to Riley and buried her face in his chest.

Ben looked back and Abby smiled at him and nodded slightly.

"And Mitch Wilkinson, sir."

"Is that right?"

"It's true, sir." Ben said, still conflicted over what was 'right'.

"Ben, I am curious about that favour I asked you. Any report regarding what's on page 47?"

"I believe I can help with that, sir."

"So it's good."

"Life-altering, sir"

"What's on page 47? Are you talking about the book?" Riley asked.

"What book?" Asked the President with a twinkle in his eye.

They stuck around to give the FBI statements while they waited for the equipment necessary to get back into the cave.

"Do you want to wait?" Riley asked Kara softly. She shrugged. They all now had blankets and dry FBI jackets.

"I think you should." Sadusky said. So they followed as Emily and Patrick led the officials down the less dangerous tunnel. Riley started hitting her when they neared the vine and gully.

"What?" she demanded sharply. He pointed. She looked. "What?" she asked again in disbelief. On the other side of the gully sat Ian and Mitch in t-shirts and boxer shorts. FBI guns were trained on Mitch as others set up the plank bridge they had brought. He crossed first, hands behind his head, and was hand-cuffed, and then Ian followed, grinning as he approached Riley and Kara, who decked him.

"What the hell?" she demanded.

"She was worried." Riley explained.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I had a plan."

"And you couldn't fill me in?"

"Well, there wasn't a lot of time and we couldn't waste it in explanations." He said defensively, gingerly touching his face where her fist had connected.

"You knew!" she turned on Sadusky.

"I hoped." He corrected, handing Ian a blanket and a jacket.

Ian had pulled himself under the door and braced against a wall, not stayed in front of the door, where Ben was, and so escaped being washed away. He spoke quickly to a stunned Mitch when the other man had dropped the door, stripping off heavy, waterlogged clothes and shoes. The room filled up rapidly and they waited until the last breath of air, cheeks pressed against the ceiling, and then dove for the open door back. The current dissipated as there was no space left for the water to rush into and Mitch made it through the door and out with a minimum of help from the less-tired Ian. After they made it through the door, it was fairly easy to get to the surface, though hard to tread water. They oriented themselves and set out for the door Ian had come into the treasure room by. Mitch couldn't fight the maelstrom of currents and Ian had to tow him along like a lifeguard. They reached the steps, which were almost entirely submerged, and hurried along the tunnel until they reached the gully. The vine was in the middle, out of reach, so they moved as far away from the door as they could, backs pressed against the cave wall well to the left of it as water started to flow down the tunnel and into the gully.

"Thank you." Mitch gasped.

"We're not done yet." Ian said grimly, afraid the current might sweep them off their feet. If they hit their heads on the way down, that would be it. The cold didn't help, either, he thought as his teeth started to chatter. What seemed like a lifetime later, the water stopped gushing through the tunnel. They sat down to wait.

"Please, please, be very careful with that. Is that distilled water you're using?" Emily harried the scientists in the treasure room.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Are you sure? Have you catalogued all of this?"

"No, ma'am."

"Excuse me? Excuse me, sir? Are you cataloguing this?"

"You should've been there when we picked out our first couch." Patrick said dryly.

They'd found a dry pair of pants for Ian – Kara wasn't sure where – but they all stayed for the impromptu celebration while Emily and Patrick worked with the scientists. Ian and Kara made their way back with food, looking for Riley.

"Since I'm a hero now, do I get to give you some advice?"

"Do I let Ben give me advice?" Kara had forgiven him, but she was also hungry and caffeine-deprived, which made her snarky.

Ian ignored her. "I could give you a speech on how nearly dying changes perspectives, but I think it would be a little clichéd. I think you should be honest with the people in your life. Tell them when you care about them, as you did so memorably with your fist. Tell them when you feel more than friendly feelings for them." He watched her expectantly as she took a sip of her drink to buy time.

"I was thinking, too. And you're right. I'm going to tell him."

Ian grinned and clapped her on the back. "Good!" They scanned the crowd. He finally saw him and pointed. She set off through the crowd.

"Excuse me – hey, you're that guy … the treasure hunter guy, right?" A pretty girl said to Riley as he carried a box of something somewhere.

"No, actually, the guy you're thinking of is over there." He tried to point her towards Ben.

"No, you're him. I recognize you from your book. Will you sign it?" she smiled.

He dropped the box. "OK."

Kara stopped. Turned around.

"Bloody hell." Ian muttered.

Kara's phone rang. On the fourth ring, she glanced at the caller id. Morgan. She groaned, braced herself, and answered.

"I'm sorry!"

Ben brought Abigail fast-food. "Thank you. So, um, the tea tables." She began awkwardly.

"Yes, I'm going to have the movers bring them to you next week." He said, somewhat stiffly.

"Actually, I was going to say you could keep them. And … maybe you could … come and move back in with me?" Abby asked.

"No. You used the word so. When you use the word 'so' it means you're angry."

She looked a little puzzled. "Sometimes. And then sometimes it doesn't. It's sort of like a puzzle. And you're so good at puzzles, I'm sure you'll figure it out. So." They kissed as fireworks began behind them in the sky.

"So - I guess I'm sorry." Kara said. It was the next day and she was standing on Abigail and Ben's front porch talking to the latter.

"Are you mocking me?"

"What?"

"With the 'so' thing."

"Seriously? Riley told me - I thought he was just kidding. Here's a hint. 'So' was not the operative part of those things Abby said, genius. God, I give up." She turned to walk away.

"I'm sorry, too." Ben called after her. "I apologized to Riley about his book. I thought - maybe I'd come to the next signing, if you don't mind. I know you go to all of them."

"I think that would be very nice of you." Kara nodded stiffly. "Did you hear about Ian? He got a presidential pardon."

"Good for him." Ben nodded. They stood in awkward silence for a moment.

"Riley!" Kara shouted. He was at the end of the driveway in the car.

"Abigail!" Ben yelled into the house at the same time.

Riley was walking home and walked past his car. He doubled back to find an envelope with his keys and "Tax free" written on the president's stationary.

"I love this car." He sighed. And backed into something.

"That car is so wasted on you," Ian sighed. He and Kara had been waiting for Riley.

In revenge, Riley passed Kara a printout.

"Nicholas Sparks?""she snorted as she read the article beside the picture of a much younger Ian.

"Now you know why I kept the assumed identity."

"You were an Olympic swimmer?" Riley asked, getting out of the car.

"Sadusky must have known," he said, glad for the change of subject. "Shall we go?" They were supposed to meet Alice, Riley's fan, to go to a movie.

"Let's not drive, Riley. Let's have 'A Walk to Remember'." Kara said, following Ian as he walked down the street.

"Have you heard from Ben and Abigail recently?" Ian asked, ignoring their teasing.

"No, but it might take a while. I sent them a 'Message in a Bottle'." Riley grinned.

"It is cold out?" Ian asked, trying to change the subject.

"It's nothing compared to the 'Nights in Rodanthe'." Kara chuckled. "I'm out." She realized.

"Me too. You stole mine."

"Oh, no – The Horse Whisperer." Kara remembered.

"Yeah, but how do we work that one in?"

"Can we please forget this?"

"Not a chance." They said together.


End file.
